Wrestling Over Open Markets
by Matthew Thornton, PW Show Daily -- Publishers Weekly, 5/21/2006
Friday afternoon saw a lively panel discussion on U.S./UK “turf wars,” a topic Penguin U.S.’s John Schline observed was “the closest publishing gets to pro wrestling.” The issue at hand was the increasing tension between U.S. and U.K. publishers over subsidiary rights, specifically which territories should or should not be deemed open market, and then who gets those rights. Moderated by agent Brian DeFiore, the sharply divided panel consisted of Jonathan Lloyd of Curtis Brown UK; Tim Hely Hutchinson, head of Hachette Livre; Philippa Dickinson, head of Random UK Children’s; and, on the U.S. side, Schline; S&S publisher Carolyn Reidy; and Harper’s David Wolfson. Each panelist spoke passionately in front of a capacity crowd filled with publishing heavyweights that included Jane Friedman, Jack Romanos, Maureen Egen, Gina Centrello and David Young.
DeFiore opened the discussion, lamenting, from an agent’s perspective, the current atmosphere in which publishers threaten to renege on deals if they don’t get the territories they want. Of particular import for the British contingent was the issue of Europe as an open market. Hely Hutchinson, Lloyd and Dickinson all argued that U.K. publishers need exclusive European rights on all titles, not necessarily in order to get more European sales, but in order to protect the British market from U.S. editions of books coming into the country via Europe and from the Internet. With legal and illegal imports increasing because of the weak dollar and the Web, the British market is “in danger of being destroyed” by the damaging trade coming in from Europe, Hely Hutchinson said. “We’re not crying wolf,” insisted Dickinson. The U.S. contingent struck back, likening British publishers to a “cartel” demanding exclusive European rights, and arguing that an open market, free trade and competition benefit everyone, and that the only people who benefit from exclusive European rights are British publishers. Reidy, who received applause for her remarks, asserted that competition means more sales, and authors prosper by having more editions available; she also observed that increased globalization, the Internet and the speed of information favors increasing, not closing, open markets. Today, Wolfson pointed out, when consumers hear about a book, they want it immediately, noting that U.S. book reviews cause demand around the world. Wolfson urged agents to control the publishing process more, arguing for increased coordination of publishing formats and timing for in-demand books so that consumers are not beholden to U.S. or U.K. publishers. Although all agreed that selling world rights would put an end to the problem, no one thought that a likely development.
